So I was brewing an Irish Red the other day, hoping it will be ready for St. Patty's Day! 
I forgot to add honey and after I added it, the gravity was the same and/or possibly lower....??
Brewing went smooth. Hit my pre-boil volume and gravity exactly. End of sparge runnings were 1.02 I brewed, chilled and transferred to the primary and pitched my yeast which was a pretty active 0.5 L starter. I was slightly over my post boil volume (like 5.8 gallons instead of 5.5) About 15 minutes later, I realized I completely forgot about the 1lb honey addition the recipe calls for.
I had saved almost a gallon of the 2nd sparge runnings because I had already got my pre-boil volume and there was a little left. (mashed out and didn't account for it in the sparge volume so I had extra sparge runnings) So I boiled a couple of cups of it on the stove to sanitize, and then added the honey to that water while it was hot so it dissolved, and then added that to the primary after pitching the yeast like 15 mins previously. I figured it was better than just using plain water.
However this is the weird thing. When I was transferring the wort to the primary before the honey addition, I took a gravity reading and was at 1.054 and the OG is supposed to be 1.063. That's kind of when I remembered about the honey. There was a decent amount of trub in the tube with the hydrometer...but I don't think that would add to the gravity since it isn't dissolved in the liquid. So after the honey addition and after I cleaned up - so like an hour or so later - I took a gravity reading and the OG was like 1.053?!?! How the hell did the pound of honey not change it / lower it slightly? Temperature was room temp both times I am sure.
Is it possible that adding the starter of yeast lowered the gravity or that fermentation had already started? The next morning it was already fermenting and everything looks good. I hit my pre-boil gravity and was only slightly over my post boil volume. Maybe I didn't boil down enough, but it doesn't make sense that the pound of honey didn't change the gravity at all.
I forgot to add honey and after I added it, the gravity was the same and/or possibly lower....??Brewing went smooth. Hit my pre-boil volume and gravity exactly. End of sparge runnings were 1.02 I brewed, chilled and transferred to the primary and pitched my yeast which was a pretty active 0.5 L starter. I was slightly over my post boil volume (like 5.8 gallons instead of 5.5) About 15 minutes later, I realized I completely forgot about the 1lb honey addition the recipe calls for.
I had saved almost a gallon of the 2nd sparge runnings because I had already got my pre-boil volume and there was a little left. (mashed out and didn't account for it in the sparge volume so I had extra sparge runnings) So I boiled a couple of cups of it on the stove to sanitize, and then added the honey to that water while it was hot so it dissolved, and then added that to the primary after pitching the yeast like 15 mins previously. I figured it was better than just using plain water.
However this is the weird thing. When I was transferring the wort to the primary before the honey addition, I took a gravity reading and was at 1.054 and the OG is supposed to be 1.063. That's kind of when I remembered about the honey. There was a decent amount of trub in the tube with the hydrometer...but I don't think that would add to the gravity since it isn't dissolved in the liquid. So after the honey addition and after I cleaned up - so like an hour or so later - I took a gravity reading and the OG was like 1.053?!?! How the hell did the pound of honey not change it / lower it slightly? Temperature was room temp both times I am sure.
Is it possible that adding the starter of yeast lowered the gravity or that fermentation had already started? The next morning it was already fermenting and everything looks good. I hit my pre-boil gravity and was only slightly over my post boil volume. Maybe I didn't boil down enough, but it doesn't make sense that the pound of honey didn't change the gravity at all.
